1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to improved manufacturing and, in particular, to a method and apparatus for manufacturing a preform for a part. Still more particularly, the present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for generating a design for manufacturing a preform for a part.
2. Background
Additive manufacturing is a process in which a three-dimensional object is formed. In additive manufacturing, successive layers of material may be formed to create an object. Objects created using additive manufacturing may be of almost any shape.
Additive manufacturing may be used for a number of different purposes. For example, additive manufacturing is used to manufacture parts or prototypes for parts that are used in objects such as aircraft, automobiles, ships, trains, machinery, medical devices, and other suitable objects.
Additive manufacturing is used to manufacture parts using materials. These materials may be, for example, metals, polymers, ceramic materials, metal alloy, titanium, thermoplastics, and other suitable types of materials.
Additive manufacturing may be performed using a number of different technologies. For example, additive manufacturing may be performed by melting or softening a material to produce layers. This type of manufacturing may include selective laser melting, direct metal laser sintering, selective laser sintering, fused deposition modeling, or other suitable techniques.
In another example, additive manufacturing may be performed using metal wire processes. For example, an electron-beam wire feed system is an additive manufacturing system that feeds wire through a nozzle. The wire fed through the nozzle is melted by an electron-beam. This type of manufacturing is referred to as electron-beam additive manufacturing (EBAM). In another example, the wire may be melted using a laser beam. This type of additive manufacturing uses electron beams or lasers, which are often used for fabricating metal parts.
The melting of the wire forms oversized layers that become a preform for the part. A preform is an object that is further processed to form the part. These oversized layers may then be machined, or otherwise processed, to form the final shape for the part.
A preform design for the preform manufactured using the wire based additive manufacturing system is based on the part design for the part. These designs are electronic files, such as computer-aided design (CAD) files. For example, a designer modifies the part design to create the preform design. Thereafter, the designer sends the preform design to manufacturers for review.
A first manufacturer reviews the preform design and provides feedback with respect to the feasibility and cost for manufacturing a preform. A second manufacturer may review the preform design to identify the feasibility of machining the preform to form the part.
The first manufacturer may consider rules that are present with respect to laying down the wire to form the preform using an additive manufacturing system. For example, locations for the substrate, the direction that the wire is laid down, how a wire can be laid on a prior wire, and other rules are present.
The second manufacturer may consider other rules for machining a preform to form the part. Depending on the type of tools used for machining the preform to form the features in the part, different amounts of excess material may be needed to form different types of parts. For example, a part with holes, groups, protrusions, or other features may require different amounts of excess material in the preform to properly form those features when machining the preform.
Additionally, the review also may include cost estimates for manufacturing the preform, manufacturing the part from the preform, or some combination thereof. The cost to manufacture the part may be based on how much material is used for the preform, the cost to create a program for the additive manufacturing system, the cost to create a program for the machining system for machining the preform to form the part, and other factors.
The manufacturers provide feedback to the designer after reviewing the preform design. The designer may make modifications to the preform design based on the feedback from the manufacturer. For example, the preform design may not be usable for manufacturing a preform. As another example, the manufacturer may return a cost estimate that may be greater than desired for manufacturing the part using the preform manufactured from the preform design. As a result, the preform design may be changed to make the preform more feasible for machining to form the part. As another example, the preform design may be changed to reduce the amount of material resulting in the cost identified for manufacturing the part being reduced. This type of design modification and review may occur several times to finalize the preform design.
The steps involved in creating the preform design, reviewing the preform design, returning feedback, and modifying the preform design as needed may be performed several times. Currently, the steps may take more time than desired in creating the preform design for the preform to manufacture a part. Additionally, the creation and modification of the preform design is subjective based on people creating the preform design and reviewing the preform design.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have a method and apparatus that take into account at least some of the issues discussed above, as well as other possible issues. For example, it would be desirable to have a method and apparatus that overcome a technical problem with the time and effort needed to create a preform design.